CLAIM: Several TikTok videos claimed that the government has approved the P820 daily minimum wage starting July 1.
The videos are packaged or edited as a supposed achievement for Filipino workers.
The common message in them reads: “Good news! Minimum wage P820 na starting July 1, 2022.”
@chergeri2021 MINIMUM WAGE APPROVED 820#minimumwage ♬ rainbow – Gatton
@kajoe18 #minimumwage #fyp #bbmfor2022president🇵🇭 #pilipinas ♬ Believer – Imagine Dragons
Some videos, meanwhile, have a screenshot of a social media card that reads: “P820 na minimum wage, tinulak ng TUCP sa Central Luzon.”
@john_lalu #minimum ♬ original sound – iansanity – _iansanity
RATING: These claims are as false.
Facts
The National Wages and Productivity Commission, the commission tasked to determine the minimum wages of Filipino workers, debunked these claims as fake.
The NWPC issued its notice on Facebook on June 1.
“A circulating video on Facebook and TikTok claims that the government has approved legislation to hike the national minimum wage. We would like to advice the public that this news is 𝗙𝗔𝗞𝗘,” it said.
The NWPC advised the public that all wage orders can be found on official government channels only.
“All published wage orders can be found from the official websites and Facebook pages of DOLE and NWPC,” it said.
Links to their websites and their Facebook pages were also provided on the post.
According to the latest wage orders, the approved minimum wage increase for Metro Manila workers is P33, and P55 or P110 for Western Visayas.
Below are the increases in wages depending on the sector in Metro Manila, according to the Wage Order No. NCR-23:
- Non-agriculture sector – from P537 to P570
- Agriculture (Plantation and non-plantation), Service/Retail establishments with 15 workers or less, and Manufacturing with less than 10 workers – from P500 to P533
Meanwhile, the following are the increases in pay in Western Visayas:
- Non-agricultural, industrial, commercial establishments with 10 or more employees – P450
- Those with less than 10 employees – P420
The P820 supposed daily pay is the amount the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines petitioned for workers in Central Luzon last April.
The TUCP filed this petition to increase the daily salaries of workers in the region from the current P420 to P820.
Moreover, the photo being used in some of the TikTok videos was lifted from a report by the Philippine STAR about TUCP’s filing.
Why it matters
The claim on P820 minimum wage was already debunked by ABS-CBN last May. However, some videos are still up and are circulating on TikTok.
While most of them garnered at least 1,000 views only, they propagate the false hope that minimum wage earners will soon be earning P820.
Calls to increase the daily minimum salaries of workers have been made to the government for years amid the continuous rise in the costs of expenses.
The Department of Labor and Employment said that the last increase in pay for workers in private establishments in the National Capital Regions took effect on Nov. 22, 2018.
Meanwhile, the last wage order for private establishment workers in Western Visayas is in 2019.
“The last Wage Order for workers in private establishments and for domestic workers in Western Visayas took effect on 26 November 2019 and 08 May 2019, respectively,” DOLE said in a previous statement.
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This story is part of the Philippine Fact-check Incubator, an Internews initiative to build the fact-checking capacity of news organizations in the Philippines and encourage participation in global fact-checking efforts.
Interaksyon is part of #FactsFirstPH, a multi-sectoral initiative promoting truth in public space and demanding accountability for falsehoods. For those interested to join the initiative, email info@factsfirst.ph
Interaksyon is also a founding partner of Tsek.ph, a collaborative fact-checking project for the 2022 Philippine elections. It is an initiative of academe, civil society groups and media to counter disinformation and provide the public with verified information.